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Aaron Binder is a Toronto small business owner and policy advocate working on commercial rent reform, fixed costs, and main street economics in Canada.
He is Director of the Better Way Alliance, a small business think tank and advocacy organization, and CEO of Go Tours Canada, an award-winning Toronto tour operator running since 2005.
He is editor of CommercialRent.ca, home of the Commercial Renter Bill of Rights and the Fixed Cost Crunch report. Better Way Alliance data shows Toronto commercial rents rose roughly 155 percent between 2019 and 2025, which Binder calls a displacement-level event for small business.
He came to it early. His family ran small businesses, and at sixteen he started his own promoting concerts in small-town southwestern Ontario, mostly to make sure his band got billed. The band was terrible. The lesson was not: a main street runs on the people who show up, and it closes when they cannot afford to.
Binder has advocated for small business federally, provincially, and municipally. He appeared before Ontario's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs on commercial rent relief in 2020, and sat on the City of Toronto's Economic Advisory Panel that informed Sidewalks to Skylines, the city's ten-year economic action plan.
He has served as policy advisor to the Canadian Coalition for Community Capital since 2025. He organizes Better Business Day, an annual day at Queen's Park, and previously served as president of Corktown Toronto, where his volunteers published some of the first Canadian urban data on the pandemic's impact on small business.
His commentary has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Canadian Business, Retail Insider, Toronto Market Week, and Toronto Today. He writes at aaronbinder.substack.com.
Earlier, he produced Clara Gluten-Free Water, a hoax product reported as real by Scientific American, Salon, and New Scientist.
He studied architecture at Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson, and marketing at St. Clair College.
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Panels, keynotes, town halls, all-candidates debates. Rooms that range from a neighbourhood association to a legislature or world congress. Speaking on commercial rent, small business economics, main streets, tourism and grassroots campaign strategy.
Talks built from real-life research and experience. Moderation deeply rooted in fairness, equitable questions, and keeping panels honest.
Turning what business owners actually experience into something a government can act on. Research and reports, deputations and submissions, coalitions across levels of government, and the unglamorous follow-through that keeps email data centres thriving.
See the Archive tab for Hansard records, federal pre-budget submissions, a resolution adopted by Canada's FCM, and an intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Message, media and organizing for advocacy campaigns, political candidates and member organizations. Building arguments, finding allies, and giving everyone a job to do.
Ran a long-shot municipal campaign into a genuine contest, organized a voting bloc that changed a leadership race, and got a hoax product covered as real news by Scientific American.
Newsletter on small business, commercial rent, and Canadian main street economics.
SUBSCRIBE »Opening remarks at the 25th Basic Income Earth Network world congress, held at Toronto Metropolitan University. Basic income dollars land on main street, and without commercial rent reform they become a transfer to landlords.
BWA exhibition on Toronto spaces lost to commercial rent increases, built from an open callout to local artists.
put the rent crisis in front of an arts audience rather than a policy one
COVERAGE »Interview on why rent volatility is not a neutral market event: chains absorb it through corporate accounting, independents cannot.
READ »The Federation of Canadian Municipalities adopted a resolution at its 2026 annual conference calling on Ottawa to modernize the Canada Small Business Financing Program: a higher property loan limit, acquisition financing for business succession, and lower fees. Sponsored by New Westminster.
the CSBFP modernization asks BWA has run for years, now the position of Canada's national municipal body
RESOLUTION »BWA's annual advocacy day at Queen's Park, co-hosted with the Brampton Board of Trade. Small business owners meeting MPPs on commercial insurance taxation, micro-business recognition and transit funding. The delegation was named on the floor of the Legislature.
an MPP used her members' statement that day to back commercial rent relief for small business
HANSARD »BWA intervened in the appeal over whether a commercial landlord who refuses a tenant's repudiation can keep the lease alive and sue for rent with no duty to mitigate. The rule has stood since 1971. Heard February 18, 2026, judgment reserved.
put small business tenants in the room on a question of lease law argued mostly by landlords
DOCKET »In-depth interview on Toronto's commercial rent crisis, fixed cost analysis, and landlord-tenant relationships.
READ »Published BWA research report documenting the fixed-cost squeeze on Canadian small businesses.
cited by media and policymakers as the framing for main street viability
REPORT »Andrew Siegwart's TIAO podcast, with Liliana Camacho: ethical employment, the fixed cost crisis, and the case for predictable rent increases, standardized leases and a way to settle disputes without suing.
LISTEN »BWA's advocacy day at the Ontario legislature, pitching solutions from employers to stabilize small business growth, create good jobs and build resilient local economies. The biggest delegation the day had run to that point.
National op-ed co-bylined with Liliana Camacho, making the case for commercial tenant protections.
picked up by Social Capital Partners and cited in municipal rent reform campaigns
READ »Invited by ONDP MPPs on November 28 to bring the policy issues on Ontario small business owners' minds: rent increases without notice, opaque leases, and no affordable way to dispute unfair fees.
Co-hosted with the Kensington Market Community Land Trust at Trinity Common on October 9: land trusts, small business property ownership and the policy that keeps wealth circulating in a neighbourhood.
sold out, and BWA's first summit of its own
Fair wages, small business challenges, and building Better Way Alliance.
A delegation of 15 business owners and leaders met MPPs on May 28 on commercial rent, gig work and decent work.
Commercial land trusts as a tool for main street preservation.
Coverage of the BWA member survey on rent costs and lease agreements, and the case for fair markets over free markets in commercial property.
READ »Joined the City of Toronto's advisory panel on economic development. Its input shaped Sidewalks to Skylines, the city's ten-year economic action plan.
The first one, run under the name Advocacy Day for its first two years. Delegates told MPPs how decent work practices built stronger foundations in their businesses.
became the annual day BWA has run at the legislature ever since
First major national feature on the commercial rent crisis. Expert commentary on tenant protections and standardized leases.
framed commercial rent as a small business policy issue at the national level for the first time
READ »Five years of stages on digital strategy, tourism, and building structures out of rubble. That last one is a real talk and it went better than it sounds.
Produced and moderated the candidates meeting for the Corktown Community Economic Council.
Deputation on commercial rent relief during COVID-19. On the Hansard record.
one of the first voices on the public record calling for tenant-side commercial rent protections in Ontario
Published some of Canada's first urban data on the COVID-19 shutdown's impact on businesses.
Co-founded advocacy project for Universal Pharmacare in Canada.
Wrote through the shutdown on small business relief, rent, and what governments were and were not doing about either.
READ »Produced and hosted debates for Spadina-Fort York and Toronto Centre, with incumbents Adam Vaughan and Bill Morneau on the stage. The only hosting gig that has involved being frisked by the RCMP.
Led the Business and Residents Association through strategic transformation, focused on economic development and small business advocacy.
built the neighbourhood-level proof of concept that became BWA's small business focus
Hosted Corktown's public meetings. Speakers included Sidewalk Labs and City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, in front of a neighbourhood that asks hard questions.
Ran a competitive Toronto Ward 21 campaign, positioning a long-shot advocate as a serious contender before ward amalgamation.
Produced and hosted sold-out all-candidates debates for the Ontario provincial and Toronto municipal races.
Moderated panels on the future of how people get around.
National coverage of progressive Conservative voting bloc strategy.
Produced the award-winning show "Real Actors, Not People".
Came aboard Canada's Community Business Network as Director of Communications.
grew the org from member network to policy operation across federal, provincial, and municipal levels
Moderated sessions at Toronto's consumer technology show.
A hoax product that ran as real news. Picked up by Scientific American, Salon, The Mirror, New Scientist and the Western Producer.
real bottled water brands began using gluten-free as a marketing claim afterward
Technology and consumer electronics writing, 2016 to 2018.
Became partner in an award-winning Toronto tour company. Distillery District and Ontario Place experiences.
the small business that taught me what every other small business needs
The platform for commercial rent reform in Canada. Tracks displacement, surfaces lease data, and tools for small business owners and BIAs. Home of the Commercial Renter Bill of Rights and Fixed Cost Crunch report.
status: active
VISIT »Canada's Community Business Network. Purveyors of tools for business owners, policy ideas for governments, and events that connect and grow virtuous economy. Focused on building a new social contract for business owners.
status: active
VISIT »Award-winning Toronto tour operator for over 20 years. Segway tours, teambuilding events, food tours + more. Exploring the intersection of fun and educational with a team of charming and informative tour guides.
status: active
VISIT »BWA's annual day at Queen's Park. Small business owners from across Ontario meeting MPPs about the policies that decide whether their businesses survive.
status: annual
VISIT »Neighbourhood-scale data platform tracking small business displacement along high-pressure corridors. Prototyped on the Ontario Line route, in partnership with BIAs across the city.
status: in development
The City of Toronto's advisory panel on economic development. Its input shaped Sidewalks to Skylines, the city's ten-year economic action plan, and its three priorities: strong main streets, quality jobs, and global competitiveness.
status: active
VISIT »A five-year national advocacy initiative to make it easier for everyday Canadians to invest directly in their own communities. Pushing federal tax reform so community bonds and local infrastructure can sit alongside RRSPs and TFSAs.
status: active
VISIT »The world's first gluten-free water. Entirely a hoax, reported as real by Scientific American, Salon, The Mirror and New Scientist. Bottled water brands later started using the claim in earnest.
status: dormant
VISIT »